Dozens of well-known names either own or have a branded spirit of their own. From worldwide celebs with nicknames like The Rock and The King to perhaps the king of folk music and a man with a music empire, here is just a taste of the spirited world of celebrities with their own alcohol brands.
Ryan Reynolds — Aviation Gin
Based out of Portland, Oregon, this might be the most famous celebrity spirit there is right now. That’s because of the tireless and self-deprecating energetic efforts of the brand’s owner, Ryan Reynolds. From hysterical and mocking commercials, to Reynolds’ tongue-in-cheek style humor, Aviation is a famous brand that has earned incredibly high accolades as well.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson — Teremana Añejo Tequila
The man who simply calls himself “The Founder” on his Twitter handle has his hands on something special with Teremana Tequila. Dwyane ‘The Rock’ Johnson has expanded the brand quickly, including collaborations, and going out of his way to celebrate other spirit brands when they gain recognition for quality.
Matthew McConaughey — Longbranch Bourbon from Wild Turkey
Instead of founding his very own whiskey, Matthew McConaughey decided to team up with an already well-known brand, Wild Turkey, to turn whiskey based in Kentucky into something a bit more Texan. The whiskey is aged with Texas mesquite to give it a bit of a more rounded finish, and as a Texan, I can say that it’s a good sipper for sure.
Mariah Carey — Black Irish
Perhaps launched to be in harmony with the holidays, you know, the time of year when we tend to hear Mariah Carey quite a bit, this line of Irish liqueurs has also gained some notoriety as being solid, including being named the best celebrity liqueur by Rolling Stone.
Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul — Dos Hombres Mezcal
Two colleagues became friends and became business partners. Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul, known for their work in Breaking Bad are front and center in taking their mezcal to the people, quite literally. Just this week they were at a local legend, Licha’s Cantina, in Austin, Texas, hanging out with the staff and customers while serving them up some of the spirits that have been on the rise worldwide. If you love tequila, take a dip into something that relies more on terroir and small estates than its Blue Agave-made cousin.
Nick Offerman — Lagavulin Offerman Edition Single Malt Scotch Whiskey
If you were a fan of Nick Offerman’s Ron Swanson on Parks & Recreation, then you know that his real-life personality and interests bled into the character, including his love for Lagavulin Scotch Whiskey. The fact that since Parks & Recreation went off the air, Offerman has not only further established his woodworking and noble spirit for humanity, but he’s gone into business with Lagavulin as well. The results are stunning, both in taste and product, and in the absolutely amazing branding campaigns they’ve put together. The video linked above is outstanding, as is the spirit and Offerman’s never-ceasing spirit himself.
Snoop Dogg — Indoggo Gin
The bottle is purple and hails from Minnesota, so we’ll let you make your own Prince-inspired conclusions. From the man who will pimp, er, promote, just about anything, we have to say that taking the word indigo, which is very purplish, and twisting the words a smidge, something Snoop is pretty damn great at, has us wanting to try this one out, even if it is a flavored gin.
Bruno Mars — SelvaRey Rum
The ‘70s style aesthetic with more than a hint of Panama branding to it, SelvaRey Rum rose in prominence along with Bruno Mars’ side project, Silk Sonic, when he came up with nine different rums to pair with each track of their album. Mars wasn’t with the brand when it premiered in 2014, but he became a co-owner soon thereafter and has smoothly pushed the brand and spirit forward.
George Clooney — Casamigos Tequila and Mezcal
Another in the George Clooney line of suave yet fun drinkables, Casamigos has taken home some awards of its own as well. The way the celebrity spirit game is going, the famous ones using their money and sway to get involved in a way that elevates brands and pushes aside some smaller brands that might be great as well ,because not everyone can fund huge promotional campaigns and investments. We digress, though, because yummy is yummy.
Bob Dylan — Heaven’s Door Whiskey
Following the trend, it’s not usually a celebrity just getting into the spirits all by their lonesome, but usually with a partner or friend who already is steeped deep in the spirits game and full of knowledge, which helps elevate the entire project. Any great collaborator knows to seek out those who can hit some other notes that they haven’t mastered yet, which is the case here with Bob Dylan being a co-owner of Heaven’s Door. In fact, before their Twitter account went mostly dormant, each post was accompanied by a Dylan lyric and a gorgeous photo, which was pretty cool.
Kate Hudson — King St. Vodka
We gotta give it to Kate Hudson; she didn’t set out just to make another vodka that people could pound shots of at a party. Instead with King St. Vodka she created a sipping vodka, one with a bit of refinement that could stand up on its own without knocking you down with overbearing alcoholic esters streaming down your gullet. Taking it a step further, Hudson wanted to bring a brand to the table that a woman created after noticing the huge lack thereof, and on top of that she made it non-GMO, which, being a spirit based out of Santa Barbara, has that fancy gluten-free moniker as well.
Dan Aykroyd — Crystal Head Vodka
The bottles are both cool, and a bit too much. We are always a bit trepidatious when something looks like it’s trying a bit too hard, especially when it comes to spirits and alcohol. We’re of the mind that if it tastes great, it doesn’t need to spend so much energy and funds on getting people to buy it based on the packaging. With that said, Dan Aykroyd’s Crystal Head Vodka is pretty neat for a corn-based Canadian vodka, and the Onyx version is unique in that it’s an agave-based vodka, which we hadn’t heard of before Aykroyd launched it two years ago.
Jay-Z — D’Ussé VSOP Cognac
It makes sense that the man known for making sweet beats and collaborations across the music world has leveraged his stature to pair his cognac with numerous musicians. The Jay-Z branded cognac does its best to outclass some of the better-known names on the market. Here’s hoping that D’Usse VSOP, along with several other non-celebrity-backed cognacs can change up the market a bit so there’s more than just those two choices on menus across the land.
Ludacris — Conjure Cognac
As alluded to above, cognac is quite fantastic when you get your hands on a good one. What’s your choice though, VSOP or XO? That’s where Ludacris steps in to blend both, something once again we’d never heard of, and being that we haven’t tried it yet, we’re not sure if that totally works or is straight blasphemy. We’ll trust the process, and try to track down a bottle this year when we’re celebrating LudaChristmas as well (forever grateful for that one, 30 Rock). Side note: we’re docking this one some points because they Tweet out Facebook links, and c’mon, who still does that? That’s why the above link is from 2013, heh.
